Follow by Email

Search This Blog

About Me

MY NAME IS Michelle Joy Schulman - Raw Vegan Chef at "Arnolds Way Raw Vegetarian Cafe and Education Center" in Lansdale, PA. Opera and classical singer. In 2007, I lost 175 lbs on a raw vegan diet and stayed raw vegan for 3.5 years. When I fell off of raw, I fell hard, gaining back 120 lbs. A lifelong chronic hardcore binge and overeater, I seek to recapture my birthright of "JOY" (my middle name), stop binge eating permanently, and reach and stay at a more ideal body weight through a healthy mostly vegetarian diet, that includes raw foods. Your support means so much to me. Thank you for joining me here! I'd LOVE to hear from you! LaSoprana@aol.com

Monday, June 4, 2012

HOLY SHLAMOLEY, RAW KREAMED "SPINACH"!

Okay! So, if you've ever eaten at ALL THE WAY LIVE Raw and Vegan Foods in Mt. Airy, PA on Germantown Ave. (www.AllLiveFood.com), then you know their kale salad called "Soulful Greens." So GOOD! What makes it so unique is, they CHOP the kale....FINELY!

So, the other day, I was starving and wanted kale salad at home. How All The Way Live prepares their kale gave me the idea to chop mine - in the Food processor!!How would it turn out???? I had NO idea!!!

I'm so excited to give you the blow by blow description of what i did, because it turned out so freaking fabulous!

I began by tearing the leaves from the stalks of 5 large leaves of Red Kale from a big gorgeous head that I'd just gotten from Whole Foods. That was the first time i'd ever bough Red Kale. YUM!

Discarding the stalks (actually I use those for bread, so I save them), I then ripped the leftover leaves into little pieces and threw them into a bowl.

It looked like a lot of kale, but I know it deflates.

Fantastically delicious RED ORGANIC KALE

Soon, I got my nerve, and threw the torn up leaves into the Food processor.

Next, I would throw lots of elements INTO the processor - BEFORE - I would even begin to pulse-chop it, creating my own dressing of sorts, which would form itself as the salad processed.

So, I started by adding 1/3 of an avocado. I am trying to stay away from oil.

Next I cut up a whole Roma tomato and threw that in, too. I figured it would help create more moisture to dress the leaves.

For some reason, I next looked over at the ripening MANGO on my kitchen counter. Mmmmm! Good idea! I cut off half of the RIPE mango, skinned it, and threw the soft meat into the processor, too. (That would help with moisture, oil-free 'slip', and add sweetness, too.) (SMART!)

SIDE NOTE:

You must know by now, I'm all about balancing flavors, specifically, the 5 flavors.SWEET (as in mango) is 1 of the 5 flavors. Kale is BITTER. Then you need SALTY, SPICY, and TART to balance. Almost without exception, every savory raw dish I make has at least ONE element from each flavor, used in a logical fashion.

Next, I added 2 garlic cloves sliced THIN, and 1/2 of a slice of red onion - to add two spicy elements. (I find with kale you can never have enough spicy to offset those bitter, bitter greens.)

Next, the juice of 1/2 lemon and 1 Tbsp of raw vinegar served for tartness. Raw vinegar in kale salad is a fine match. And lemon is always good on kale or on anything! (Tart elements are also especially important when it comes offsetting something especially bitter, like kale.)

I added about 1/4-1/3 cup of Nutritional Yeast flakes for cheeziness and slight saltiness, since I'm watching my salt.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST:At only 5mg of sodium per 2 heaping Tbsp, Nutritional Yeast is my go-to-salt-substitute. Just for comparison's sake, 1 Tbsp of Nama Shoyu has over 700 mg of sodium!!!

Finally, Raw Tahini caught my eye in the cubbard. Something about it called to me. "Yoohoo!" I trust my instinct. I drizzled 1 Tbsp of raw Tahini in the Cuisinart, too, and put the Processor cap on the processor. Yes, Tahini would add creaminess. Good!

....Then started pulse chopping!

10-15 pulses later, when the garlic slices and onion slices looked like I couldn't see chunks anymore, I stopped.

I scraped down the sides of the Cuisinart and pulse chopped a few more times just to be sure.

When I took off the Cuisinart cap again, I really thought I'd made a HUGE disaster. The kale looked stringy. Did I over-process it? And I was sure the kale had intensified in bitterness from all of the chopping and would be totally unpalatable. And, frankly, it just looked gross!

Honestly, when I spooned the entire mound onto my plate, I was sure i would have to throw it out!!!

......UNTIL I TOOK MY FIRST BITE!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!! Incredibly, wondrously, fantastically DELISH!!!

Heck, "You know something," I said to myself. "This LOOKS and TASTES just like Creamed Spinach"!!!!"

So creamy! And the kale....on my tongue....the little pieces.....so much brilliant interesting TEXTURE!!! The finely chopped kale pieces were like sandy little unfamiliar shreds! And mixed with the bizarrely "intuitive" CHEEZY, LEMONY CREAM SAUCE, it was a perfect match! Not ONE hint of bitterness. It didn't even need SALT!!

There wasn't even any SPINACH in it! But it totally reminded me of CREAMED SPINACH!.

Yes, i readily admit that when you eat raw, the imagination becomes really powerful! But, i swear!

This was the BEST CREAMED SPINACH I have ever had!!! (I know what i'm making next potluck!!!!)

In case you're wondering, it didn't taste VINEGARY at all!!! RAW kale needs a fair amount of TART to just even BEGIN to offset the bitter. You could not "taste" vinegar,....JUST FREAKIN' DELICIOUSNESS!!!! I was like, "Cliff, you have GOT to TASTE this!!!!"

NOTE: Next time, I'll try something more authentic and use RAW SPINACH instead of kale. I'll also add nutmeg, a common ingredient in Traditional Creamed Spinach!

YOU GOTTA TRY IT!

CHEF MICHELLE'S AMAZINGLY INCREDIBLE SURPRISE 'RAW KREAMED SPINACH'

Take:

5 leaves of Red Kale

Tear away leaves from their stalks. Discard stalks or save to use in Living Bread. Rip leaves into small pieces and add to Cuisinart along with: